Wednesday, November 9th

We had a wonderful day!

Our day began by signing up for our first College and Career Explorations of the year.  Students were able to select from a long list of interesting activities and sign up for one that they want to experience.  Explorations will take place on November 15th. From 8:30 - 10:00, every student in the school will change classrooms and explore lots of new and fascinating topics.  Ask your child which exploration they chose!

We then spent some time discussing the election.  We watched the video linked below and learned more about the Electoral College.  It was a hot topic today, so I'm sure your child will be interested in talking about it with you.

CNN Student News

We worked with word problems involving area and perimeter today.  Students were given the challenge of having the strategies and tools needed to complete their problems, and working with each other to solve before I taught them.  This strategy allows them to begin thinking through these difficult problems independently and then reflect on their results.  Check out some of our math conversations below!

Math Talk 1
Math Talk 2


We have another busy day tomorrow, so get some rest and we'll see you tomorrow!

Monday, November 7th

I hope you enjoyed the beautiful weather this weekend as much as I did!

We kicked are week off with area and perimeter.  We are utilizing our knowledge of factors to help us determine the length of unknown sides when the given the area and perimeter.

Students added to their graphic organizer from our read aloud, Thundercakes, by Patricia Polacco.  They worked to determine problems and solutions in the story.  We determined that some solutions may be how the problem is solved, and some could be the action, or reaction of the character to overcome an obstacle.

We inquired into the effects of the French and Indian War.  Students took a closer look at the outcomes of the war and how the British responded.  Ask your child to tell you more!

It's not too late to send in your pledges from the Math-a-thon, so keep them coming!

Tomorrow is Election Day, so there will be no school for students.

Have a great night!

Friday, November 4th

We had a great field trip today!  Check out the pictures and your e-mail for a recap of our week.  See you Monday!

Wednesday, November 2nd

Happy Wednesday!

We had a nice day diving into our term 3 standards and Unit of Inquiry.

We explored area and perimeter using tiles and graph paper.  Students built arrays with tiles, or drew them on graph paper.  We worked on the formula for perimeter as length times width and the formula for area being length, plus length, plus width, plus width.  We will deepen our understanding tomorrow and expand our area equations.

Students were given scenarios/plans from City Schools of Decatur and were asked to determine the positive and negative things about each plan.  The plans were about how to handle snow days, or paper, or even painting of the school.  We connected these thoughts and plans to our new central idea: Knowledge of the past can be used to organize and make decisions about the future.  Ask your child to tell you more!!

We dissected our central idea and wrote thoughts, or questions linked to our lines of inquiry.  It will be a fun and exciting term!

Don't forget to collect your pledge money for Math-a-thon by Friday.  Thanks for your participation!

Check out the Upcoming Events section for an updated calendar.  More information will follow regarding the time of our lunch for the Thanksgiving Luncheon.

See you tomorrow!

Tuesday, November 1st

Is it possible that it is November already??  I'm not sure how that happened, but here we are!!

The Votes Are In!
We want to say a HUGE congratulations to Paige and Lily!!  Paige was elected Student Council Representative, and Lily was elected as our Class Representative!  We are so proud!  They were such risk-takers as they not only wrote a letter explaining why they would be a great candidate for Student Council, but they also ran a campaign which included posters, slogans, a video segment, and even visiting classrooms to introduce themselves to the voters.  It was such a great campaign, and they supported each other along the way!  Congratulations, again!

We had a very busy day and are looking forward to kicking of our Term 3 Unit of Inquiry tomorrow!

Have a great night!

Monday, October 31st

Happy Monday and Happy Halloween!

We enjoyed a fun day of learning and several Halloween related activities.

Some (not all) genius hour groups explored phases of matter by making Oobleck and chemical reactions with vinegar and baking soda to make slimy worms dance.  Ask your child about these experiments!

We prepared for our division assessment tomorrow, working through multi-step word problems.  Students did a great job refining their strategies and are ready for tomorrow.

We had a HUGE responsibility today, as students exercised their right to vote in our student council elections.  We went to The Falcon's Nest and cast our vote in a similar manner as adults, I voted sticker and all!

 We enjoyed reviewing our term 2 goals and reflecting on whether or not we accomplished them.  We then set new goals for term 3.  Students enjoyed a quick Halloween "Would your rather" and word search activity, and enjoyed Halloween stories from our guest reader, Ms. Crooks.

What a great day!  In communication folders, you will find an envelope with Math-a-thon prizes.  Please use this envelop to collect your pledges.  I have also sent home new pledge forms.

Have a great night!!  Stay safe!

Thursday, October 27th

Happy Thursday!

We had a busy morning, reviewing our division strategies and preparing for our end of module division assessment next week.  Students utilized word problem strategies to solve problems involving division.

We had a relay race review for our assessment over the colonies tomorrow.  Students worked in teams to race and sort the characteristics of each colonial region.  They then worked as a team to correct anything that was in the incorrect location.  Ask your child to tell you more!

 Our colonies dioramas are coming along.  They are turning out great!  Students are putting a lot of thought and creativity into their representations of each region.

Thanks for your participation in the Math-a-thon!  Tonight is the final night, and then it is time to collect your pledges.

Have a nice evening!